Boot or shoe sole



Dec. 6, 1932. c. E. JOHNSON BOOT OR SHOE SOLE Filed Dec. 10, 1951 M my EYE:

.bwmfi v Z; 6.; hfi m h g MA M? /////////////////%//////2 .Qmfi H Q MW W a Patented Dec. 6, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CHARLES EDWARD JOHNSON, OF WHITMAN, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO AUGUSTUS E. GUERTIN, F BELMONT, MASSACHUSETTS BOOT OR SHOE SOLE Application filed December 10, 1931. Serial No. 580,043.

My invention relates to soles for boots and shoes and it has for its object to provide, as a new article of manufacture, an improved sole of that type which has its heel portion split forwardly to, or into, the shank of the sole so as to provide a thin flap upon the tread side of the sole that is bent downwardly and cemented to the breast of the heel to provide a covering for the same.

In producing a split sole of the class described it has heretofore been the practice to split the sole from the back of the heel forwardly into the shank of the sole by forcing the sole endwise against a straight edged splitting knife which produced a 'flap that was of uniform thickness throughout its ex tent.

The inner side or face of this flap, at the opposite sides thereof, were then manually skived as at a, a, Fig. 7 of the accompanying drawing, by means of a hand knife so that when the flap was applied to the breast of the heel and trimmed at the opposite sides thereof to conform to, or match, the shape of 5 the breast from the bottom to the top of the heel, the opposite side edges of the flap, after trimming, would be thin thereby avoiding thick unsightly raw edges.

It was an objectionable feature of this old method, however, that the thickness of each side edge of the flap, after trimming, would vary with heel breasts of different widths.

Also, the breasts of womens high heels are widest at the top of the heel and taper decidedly toward the bottom thereof and as a result a flap beveled in accordance with the old method, as illustrated in Figure 7, would present opposite side edges of uneven thickness after being trimmed to conform to the shape of the breast. That is,after trimming, each side edge of the flapwould be thicker near the bottom of the heel than near the top thereof. My invention obviates these objectionable features and provides a flap that is construct ed at its middle with a narrow longitudinal relatively thick middle portion or rib disposed between relatively thin opposite side marginal portions, each of which is formed with inner and outer surfaces that are parallel, or approximately so. That is to say, the

proximately so, throughout its extent. The

advantage to this construction is that each side edge of the flap, after being trimmed to conform to the shape of the breast of the heel, is of uniform thinness throughout its length; that is, from the top of the. heel to the bottom thereof.

In the best form of my invention the narrow longitudinally disposed relatively thick middle portion or rib of the flap extends from the rear end of the heel forwardly to a transverse line coincident with the front or breast end of the heel where said rib merges into, or connects with, a shank portion of the flap that is relatively thick and of uniform thickness approximately throughout its extent, said shank portion extending forwardly from said transverse line for asubstantial distance.

Other features of my invention are hereinafter pointed out. a

In the accompanying drawing: Figure 1 is a bottom plan view of a sole constructed in accordance with my invention. Figure 2 is a similar view showing the flap of the sole bent forwardly onto the fore-part. Figure 3 is a side elevation of the heel end portion of the sole shown in Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a section on line 4-4 of Fig-, ure 1.

Figure 5 is an enlarged section on line 55 of Figure 1.

Figure 6 is an enlarged section on line 6-6 of Figure 1. t Figure 7 is an enlarged cross-sectional view through the heel portion of a sole constructed as heretofore. The breasts of high heels provided on womens shoes are commonly covered by a flap provided upon the sole of the shoe, said flap being created by splitting the heel portion of the sole forwardly into the shank on a plane parallel with and close to thetread side thereof. It has been customary, also, to

manually bevel or skive by means of a knife,

the opposite sides of the inner face of the flap which was cemented to the breast of the heel as shown in Fig. the longitudinal median portion 6 of the flap being left relatively thick in order to afford the necessary strength.

In applying the flap to the breast of the heel its free end is grasped and pulled upon as the flap is laid into position upon the breast and the relatively thick longitudinal median portion is provided in order to withstand the strain to which-the flap is subjected during this operation. After cementing the flap to the breast of the heel its opposite sides were trimmed to conform to the shape of the breast at the opposite sides thereof. 7

During the making of the shoe the heel portion of the sole is cutaway and otherwise operated upon to permit theperiphery of the top of the heel to be properly seated against the bottom portion of the upper. While the heel portion of the sole is being thus operated upon the flap is held bent or folded forwardly.

where it is out of. the way. For this reason the sole is usually split forwardly beyond the breastof the heel andinto the shank of the sole for a substantial distance in order that theoheel seat portion of the sole may be conveniently accessible during the shaping operations just referred to. This shank portion of the flap is not beveled or thinned at its opposite sides but only the opposite side portions of the flap extending from thetop of the breast of the heel to the bottom of the latter. Inmy co-pending application filed September 14,1931, SerialNo. 562,644 I have illustrated and described a machine for splitting soles so as to provide the same with a flap constructed in accordance with this invention. v 1 V In the accompanyingdrawing 1 illustrates a sole for a womans boot or shoe, the same being shown with its skin or tread side uppermost. The heel end portion of this sole is split from the back forwardly and into the shank fora substantialdistance in front of the breast of the heel.

In Figures 1 and 2 thefposition occupied by the front end oftheltop of the heel is indicated by the dot and dash line X,X but before the heel is applied to the sole that portion of the latter at the rear of the line XX is cut away or reduced in size to permit the top of the heel toseat properly upon the shoe as described above. When the heel is in its proper position'on the sole the outer 1 surface of the forwardly extending lipthat is provided at the top of the breast of high heels is flush with the split shank portion 2 of the sole. 1

As the sole is split by the machine of the application referred to above, it is bent transversely while the splitting knife is travcling from the back of the heel to the line XX and as the knife edge approaches the line XX the sole is unbent soithat it is flat when the knife edge reaches said line from the back of the heel to the dotted line X-X two very thin portions or panels 3, 3 are formed at opposite sides of the longitudinal relatively thick middle portion or rib 4 and,=as' shown in Figure ,6, the innerand outer surfaces of each panel 3 are fiat and approximately parallel instead of being ta: pering as heretofore, and as illustrated Figure7..

As shown in Figure 5' the shank portion f the fiap'fi between the thin side marginal panels 3,3 and the dotted line Y of Figure 1, is preferably of uniform thickness throughout its extent. Therefore, when the flap is bent rearwardly and cemented to the breast of the. heel the shank portion 6 is reunited by cement with the split shank portion 2 of the solewhile the middle portion of the flap ,5 extending from the line XX, Figure 1- tothe free end of the flap, is cemented to the breast of the heel. After the cement has set the opposite sides of the flap: 2 are trimmed to conform to the shape of the opposite sides of the breast of theheel and the cut away portion will be out side of the relatively thick median portion orribdz. 1

Since only the panels 3, 3 are trimmed away as just described, the opposite side edges of the flap will be inconspicuously thin which is highly desirable for the sake of appearance and also for thereason that a thin edge is not so easily disturbed during subsequent bufiing operations as is a'thick edge. Furthermore, these opposite'side'edges will be of approximately uniform thickness from the too to the bottom of the heel. As shown in Figure 4 the'machine of the application referred to above may, if desired, be constructedso as to produce a flap whose median rib 4 tapers or diminishes, slightly in thickness from its shank end to its free end.

In Figure 2 of the drawing the shaded portions of the heel of the sole and the inner side of the flap 5 is intended to illustrate the fibrouscharacter of the fleshy part of the latter where the cut of the knife is deepest, while the unshaded portion is intended. to illustrate the dense non-fibrous character of the skin portion of the tread side of the sole that is traversed by the knife edge at the opposite sides of the median rib 4.

What Ivclaim is: i 1. As a new article of manufacture, a boot or shoe sole having its rear end portion divided horizontally throughout its width and adjacent to the tread side thereof from the back of the heel part forwardly into the shank part a substantial distance beyond the position occupied by the breast of a heel so as to provide a thin breast-covering flap having upon its inner side a narrow relatively thick longitudinal median rib and formed at each side of said rib with a relatively thin side marginal portion of a length to extend from the top to the bottom of said heel, the inner and outer faces of each side marginal portion being approximately parallel and the shank portion of said flap being of greater thickness than said side marginal portions and having inner and outer surfaces which are approximately parallel.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a boot or shoe sole having its rear end portion split horizontally throughout its width and adjacent to the tread side thereof from the back of the heel part forwardly to the shank part so as to provide a thin breast-covering flap having upon the inner side of its breast-covering rear end portion a narrow relatively thick longitudinal median rib and formed at each side of said rib with a relatively thin side marginal portion of a length to extend from the top to the bottom of a heel, the inner and outer faces of each side marginal portion being approximately parallel both longitudinally and transversely so that when the flap is applied to the breast of a heel and said side marginal portions are trimmed to conform to the contour of the heel, the opposite side edges of said flap are of uniform thickness from the top of said breast to the bottomthereof.

3. As a new article of manufacture, a boot or shoe sole having its rear end portion split horizontally throughout its width and adjacent to the tread side thereof from the back of the heel part forwardly into the shank part a substantial distance beyond the position of the breast of the heel so as to provide a thin breast-covering flap having upon its inner side a narrow relatively thick longitudinal median rib and formed at each side of said rib throughout the length of the latter with a relatively thin side marginal portion of suflicient length to extend from the top to the bottom of a heel, the inner and outer surfaces of each side marginal portion being approximately parallel and the shank portion of said flap being of greater thickness than said side marginal portions and having inner and outer surfaces which are approximately parallel.

Signed by me at Whitman, Plymouth county, Massachusetts, this 5th day of December, 1931.

CHARLES EDWARD JOHNSON. 

